Across the pond in Brighton, England, a young mother left her baby home alone for six days, accidentally killing her. Now, news is coming forward about the final moments of 20-month-old Asiah Kudi’s life. What was the mother’s excuse for leaving her baby home alone in the apartment? Her mother, Verphy Kudi, went out partying with friends to celebrate her eighteenth birthday and went on a days-long bender.
During her time away from her young baby, Verphy Kudi traveled to London, Coventry, and Solihull so she could spend time with her friends and have a party of a time. Kudi was away from her baby for six days, partying with friends as much as one hundred fifty miles from her baby from December 5 to 11, 2019.
After going on a drug-induced bender, Kudi returned home five days, twenty-one hours, and fifty-eight minutes after leaving her baby. When she did finally return home, she found baby Asiah dead in her cot.
In the wake of the baby’s death, Kudi claimed that her toddler had been sick and simply never woke up from sleep. However, an autopsy revealed a different story. According to the coroner, baby Asiah died from a combination of dehydration, starvation, and the effects of the flu back in December 2019.
When Kudi appeared at the Lewes Crown Court, she admitted to one count of manslaughter and was jailed for nine years of her life. Now, a new inquest into the case has revealed that the young mother had experienced a very difficult childhood herself and had been a frequent witness of domestic violence in the home.
The inquest into Asiah’s death revealed that her mother had experienced symptoms of PTSD and was sent to live in a children’s home in Norfolk.
During the examination of the mother, consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr. Frank Farnham revealed that the teenage mother abused cannabis to a “harmful” level and was likely using the drug while on her bender with friends while her baby was home alone.
In a statement read during the inquest, the doctor said that the teen mom would “self-medicate” with cannabis during moments of heightened “anxiety or depression.” He described her as having a “harmful pattern of cannabis use” that was bad enough to have a negative effect on her physical health.
The psychiatrist also reported that Kudi suffered from problems that caused her to feel disconnected from herself and the world around her. She also exhibited dissociative behavior, which may have explained why she was unable to judge the passage of time. She was away from her baby.
Asiah was left alone in her cot on December 5, 2019, without any food or water, while her mom went out to a party with friends for her birthday celebration. And six days later, when the baby died, Kudi was using social media to launch her own modeling career.
When mom called in the emergency, she told the dispatcher that her baby was “not waking up.”